HowSuccessiondirector Mark Mylod turned the Italian countryside into the Roys personal hellscape.
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The finale is an emotionally wrenching episode.
These adult children are realizing their dad doesnt care about them at all.And the mother doesnt either.
Mom and dad both sold them out.
Can you just throw the actors into the middle of all that?
Do you even have a choice given the realities of a TV production schedule?
Do you do rehearsals?
Im speaking specifically of the scene in the alley with Kendall in the dirt.
The road map emerges from the writers room.
And therefore, obviously, we know where the season starts.
We made the choice a long time ago that we wouldbegin the story of season threemoments afterseason two ended.
And we knew that we wouldbuild to a pointwhere Matthews character, Tom, betrayed Shiv.
And that Kendalls efforts to bring the siblings together inepisode twowould fail.
And that through this extraordinary arc, eventually he would or rather Shiv would actually bring the siblings together.
Being double-crossed by her parents, the brutality of that … its all just a lot.
Oddly, I come out of the season finale not quitefullof hope butwithhope.
Because for the first time, I think, in many years, the siblings are genuinely united.
They understand family in a positive sense.
Were all a team.
You know, about 90 percent of us have been working together since season one.
The potential for mistakes was high.
Its unusually still for a scene onSuccession.
Thisshow jumps and dances around a lot visually.
Here, comparatively, things are more rooted.
It just felt right to say, Okay, can you walk down here?
And youre going to start talking about here.
I laid a booby trap for Jeremy.
We knew that would be a helpful trigger to get him to this incredibly hard place.
And then it becomes about blind intuition.
It was hard for physical reasons.
And the gusting wind coming up was blowing up the dust!
And we were able to mine all of that visually.
Kendalls even got a bit ofRed Deserton his ass at the end of it.Thats why I chose that location.
We could put that new, harsh light down on the characters, and theyve got nowhere to hide.
Once youve figured out the basics, it becomes a take-by-take thing.
Were just trying to find a genuine moment.
And also real, huge relief because now I know we have the scene.
We have that ultimately cathartic moment we needed.
We run it like its a piece of theater.
If there are wide shots, Ill shoot them later, when everyones exhausted.
Is it usually the same two people every time?
Or do you change them up?Typically our two brilliant camera operators are Gregor Tavenner and Alan Pierce.
There are a lot of different ways to shoot handheld.
We want all the imperfections of slightly bad eyelines, of not quite getting the moment.
Its the imperfections that are so important to us.
One of the questions we deal with in successive seasons is how to keep that roughness.
Thats because were programmed to make things look good in a million tiny ways.
So things get a little slicker, more curved, with smoother edges.
Why dont we shoot this in Tuscany?[Laughs.]
There was a bit of truth to that, to be honest.
And I made a big pitch for Morocco to be the venue, and Jesse was like, Yeah.
Which I now know to translate as Thats a fucking terrible idea.
Never mention it again.
To me, Lets shoot it in Wales is like Lets shoot it in New Jersey.
So yeah, I lost that one.
It was just the right place for people of that class.
A lot of people are spending more and more time out there now.
We also discussed going to the Bahamas or somewhere in the Caribbean, but we couldnt afford that.
And were not good at faking it, even if theres more than a century of film location cheating.
We fought hard to stay on film stock.
Theres an argument that on the television screen, you could barely tell the difference.
In fact, we did a few tests and put grain into digital images.
But it just felt more authentic to be on film stock considering what kind of show were making here.
And this is a show about extravagant people.The production process for 35mm is more involved, its true.
And HBO is incredibly generous in the way they support their programs, budgetarily and creatively, obviously.
But shooting on film wasnt intended as an extravagance.
I know that feels like a thin argument, but it gives us a structure we really need.
Can we talk a little bit about the reaction to theprofile of Jeremy StronginThe New Yorker?
And Im with him on that.
I dont really have anything to add beyond that.
I have nothing but respect and adoration for all the cast.
I want them all to feel supported.
Ive readquotes to the effectthat this is going to be a four-season show, maybe five.
Does that seem accurate to you at this point?Yeah.
There are discussions about that.
And the answer is solely with Jesse.
He will keep telling this story till he feels he doesnt have more story to tell.
And I genuinely have no idea when that will be.
I dont want to sound coy, but I dont tend to read a lot about the show.
Obviously, we intended it as one element in our version of a cliffhanger.
Hell be coming over here in 15 minutes.[Laughs.]
Thats what I mean when I say, Thats our version of a cliffhanger.
Im almost glad that final shot caused a stir.
Im very proud of that shot.
With the cameraperson on the bottom of the pool, obviously.Yeah.
It was a really nicely crafted moment.
You dont hold shots that long, normally.No, never.
But that shot kept giving and giving, so we held it longer than we normally would.
How many takes did you do of that shot?Very few.
Did the bottle always fall that nicely?Yeah, it really did, it never once sank.
The one you ended up seeing was the best of them.
That was the one that lasted the longest.
Do you have any particular film moments in mind when you do a shot like that?Not really.
Somebody mentionedGatsby, but it wasnt something I had in mind.
Its not really my way to think,Oh, Ill do a little D.W. Griffith here.
If it happens, its because Ive unconsciously ripped somebody off without realizing it.
Tell me about shooting during COVID.Shooting with COVID was fucking miserable, man.
I dont know of any other deaths in our extended work family.
Our problem with COVID was that it made things so damn transactional.
Everybody on set was masked and wore face shields and at a minimum six-foot distance.
And it just had to be that.
All the nuance and enjoyment in the process was really taken away for me.
I think everybody found it incredibly hard.
Its only when you get toepisode fivethat theres any scope.
Oh, so you filled out the crowd digitally?Yeah.
We didnt feel confident in having that many background people.
But even then, she had to be very careful with their staging.
She did a brilliant job because the event feels huge even though it was shot very tactically.
That person is trapped.
So you kind of have it both ways.
There are times onSuccessionwhere important dialogue is spoken and you dont see the person saying it.
Instead, you focus on the person hearing it.
There was imperfection to it.
And that imperfection is something that I really tried to keep.
Were trying to give the sense that were barely keeping up with things that are happening beyond our control.
What is Brian Cox like to work with and be around?
Whatever the opposite of pretentious is, thats Brian.
The work ethic and commitment he displays at this stage of his career is astonishing.
Did you find him intimidating at the beginning?Heck yeah!
It took a while to get past that for me.
He can still be very intimidating.
Hes an extraordinary presence.
Even now, after three seasons?Yeah.
I have to keep my chin up because hes a force.
Brian acts like No.
1 on the call sheet in the best way.
He advocates for the rest of the cast.
He is that paternal character to us all.
And he will give me feedback.
Hell give the production feedback.
Hey, I see youve pushed their call this time.
He keeps an eye out for other people, and hes incredibly tuned in and looks after everybody.
Hes a truly good human.
Its a beautiful irony.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
